STP 500 2017 Viewing Info

Preview

Since a 12th-place finish at Daytona, Kyle Larson and the Chip Ganassi Racing team have been on an utterly dominant run. After three-straight second place finishes at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix, Larson won at Fontana last weekend, increasing his lead over Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. in the driver standings.

Continuing that run may be difficult at Martinsville, though. Larson had a third-place finish in this race last year, but he hasn’t been inside the Top 10 in any of his five other starts at the short track.

On the flip side, there are plenty of drivers who are going to feel very comfortable here. Kyle Busch won this race last year and has three consecutive Top-5’s at Martinsville. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has eight Top-10’s in his last 12 trips to Ridgeway, Virginia. Then on a completely different level, there’s Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson, who have each won this particular race three times and own an impressive 14 combined wins at Martinsville: five for Hamlin and a whopping nine for Johnson.

“A win is the only thing that’s acceptable when I get to this race track,” said Hamlin, who is in 12th in the points race. “I know I take a lot of pride in coming to this race track and running well.”